July 14, 2006
Taipei City, Taiwan – Sophomore Luke Zeller (Washington, Ind.) scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Athletes In Action to a 91-68 victory Philippines at the 28th William Jones being held at the Taipei Physical Education College Gym. With the win and coupled with Qatar’s loss to Chinese Taipei, AIA is now tied for first in the standings at 5-1.
The first quarter was controlled by the Philippines who took as much as an eight point lead during the frame. AIA bounced back in the second period to make a run of their own and claim a lead for the first time with just under four minutes to go in the half. AIA poured it on from there and went into the locker-room with a 51-32 advantage.
“When we started playing together on offense and defense, we gained the lead,” remarked Troy DeVries, “that’s when we started to have fun.”
Despite a couple of runs for the Philippines, the lead never reached under 10 points. Eventually, the advantage on the boards was too much and AIA extended its lead in the fourth quarter to an unreachable margin. For the game, AIA out rebounded the Philippines 52-29. “We played particularly well in the second half against a team that has lost a lot of close games,” said head coach Mike Jarvis.
DeVries lead the team with 29 points on 6-11 shooting from the three point line while Belmont’s Boomer Herndon added 14 points and eight boards. New Mexico’s Tony Danridge was a timely contributor as he ignited both big runs by AIA. Danridge finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. JaRon Jefferson of Montana State dished out nine of AIA’s 19 assists.
In the final game of the round robin play, AIA will play Kazakhstan on Friday at 1PM.
Jones Cup Standings
Qatar 5-1
AIA 5-1
Korea 4-2
Taiwan 4-2
Kazakhstan 3-3
Australia 2-4
Philippines 1-5
Japan 0-6
Day Six Results (Thursday)
Kazakhstan 98, Japan 75
Korea 87, Australia 76
AIA 91, Philippines 68
Taiwan 85, Qatar 64
Day Seven Schedule (Friday)
AIA vs Kazakhstan 1PM
Qatar vs Australia 3PM
Japan vs Philippines 5PM
Korea vs Taiwan 7PM
Note: Game story provided by Peter Warden of Athletes In Action who is traveling with the team during the Williams Jones Cup competition.